Open Letter to Cursillistas

I find it appropriate to share with you the news in which God has in store for me. As I know all of you are not only on the pursuit of truth, but also on the journey with others – I feel comfortable sharing this with you. I will also share with you a plea, a saving plea for our youth, and I will challenge you tremendously towards the end of this letter. For many of you it will be a reminder, but a reminder that is very healthy to hear.

I made my Cursillo at Elk County Catholic High School (#230) in June of 2014. I was 21 years old at the time and heading into my senior year of college at Saint Vincent in Latrobe, Pa.

I had thought a little about the priesthood and being a family father throughout my college career. I was discerning. I needed answers. I needed to search. Just as all of you have gone through this in your own lives.

The Cursillo came at a great time for me. I was around priests, a monk, husbands, and single laymen all revealing their vocations to me. In other words, it was Holy ground.

During that weekend, I studied the fellow men around me very closely. Analyzing their characters, prayer life, professions, family history, hobbies, dreams, weaknesses, sacrifices, and most difficult moments of their lives. Then, I compared all of these against the backdrop of their vocations and then against my own life. I was searching very deeply to see where I fit in this whole “Catholic thing.”

The Cursillo Movement’s format of “Piety, Study, Action” was instrumental for me. I will return to the “study” aspect of Cursillo later on in this letter.

This helped me funnel my thoughts, enter new avenues, and just flat out live.

As a result of this, and many other beautiful moments in life, I discerned rather peacefully that I am called to be a priest. That I yearn to be a priest. That I yearned to be a priest very often in my life, even when I didn’t realize it at first.

Last week, I received the official acceptance letter from Bishop Persico to be a seminarian. I will study 2 years at Gannon University. Then, four years at a place to be determined. I will then be a priest, one that loves to love, one that loves the parish, one that loves people, and one that especially loves young people.

Now, I want to share with you what’s on my heart and how we can overcome a massive lie in our culture today…

I want to share with you my own perspective of being a young person because I think it will help the Cursillo Movement literally “move” into the younger generations. If we do not, the Cursillo Movement will cease to exist.

It’s kind of tough being a young person in our culture today. One of the only benefits of living in a culture that loves to explore freedom without sacrifice is this àour culture teaches us exactly “what not to do” with young people.

There is a massive lie within our culture today. That young people (like myself) do not think deeply, that we play video games, that we are addicted to our Smartphones, Twitter, Facebook, that everything needs to be short and quick for us. That whenever the going gets rough, we take the quickest detour. That we’d prefer to live in the virtual world and not in a virtuous world.

Lies. Lies. Lies!

It was the “study” aspect of the Cursillo Movement that drew me in the most. After that movement, I went on a mission to grow spiritually, intellectually, and in my Catholic understanding. I went on a rampage of reading encyclicals, books, and listening to academic talks on YouTube in the late hours of the night. Lighthouse CD’s, Bishop Barron on YouTube, Saint John Paul II books and encyclicals filled up my free time.

I started for the first time in my life asking people, “What books are you reading?” “What books have helped you the most?”

I saw the world in a new way.

A conversation with a person on the way to a college course was much more than [just a conversation] now. Beside me was a person “made in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:27). As Saint John Paul II wrote in his book Crossing the Threshold of Hope, “To encounter another person is to encounter God.”

That is what young people want! We don’t want to walk to class and just see the usual, book bags, lines of people, and ugly hallways. We want to see God.

We’ll lie to you because we are uncomfortable, but when we lay our head down before bed, when the room is dark, when the Smartphone is charging, when the blinds are down, when there is complete silence… We want God.

We feel the “de Colores” even in that darkened room, that unsatisfied heart, that imagination that can’t wait to dream, and we feel the “de Colores” in those prayers that, in some beautiful and unique way, almost always feel listened to even when we are not actually listening to our own selves!

Then, like all humans throughout human history, we begin to ask questions during these moments.

Not Facebook posts, not Twitter, and not Call of Duty are on the minds of us youth during this moment before bed.

Questions filled with colors and hope and fear and joy are asked during these moments, “Why am I here?” “What is my purpose?” “Does God exist?” “How can I be happy?” “What is love?” “Is God love?” “How can I get better?” “Am I loved?”

Facebook didn’t answer these questions during the day. Adults that just passed us by during the day didn’t help us answer these questions. TV News Channels that only care about viewer ratings didn’t answer these questions for us.

Therefore, we are left without answers. As Saint John Paul II once stated, “Without the Gospels, man remains a dramatic question with no adequate answer.” He was so right, especially in our world today.

Every young person yearns to “leave the Shire” as JRR Tolkein perfectly revealed to us.

Every young person yearns to “explore beyond the wardrobe” as CS Lewis beautifully revealed to us.

The youth want God, we want a journey.

Our hearts still beat heavily during arguments face to face and, we as young people, still yearn for thick discussions and even a smack on the ass when we do something wrong. Yes, we may be crying at that moment, but our inner conscience is smiling.

I share this with you because it’s easy to fall into this “American - Cultural - Christian theme” that our society has built upon in order to share this lie, “Grow up Christian and go on Sundays. Go off to parties or sports or dates or college or the workforce and live it up whenever you want. True freedom means to do whatever you want. The church will always be around when you return. Then, flip the switch of life and be Holy again. It’s easy. It’s ok to do whatever you want whenever you want.”

Bullshit.

Me, along with all young people, desire as much as ever, and even more now, to be disciplined and Holy. To rise to the challenge and to learn. Maybe we’ll choose to listen to Bishop Barron on YouTube before we’ll crack open the Old Testament and try to read names that we cannot even pronounce, but that does not mean we are not interested in the truth!

I always get a kick out of teenage boys pouring out blood and sweat in the month of August for 9 football games, yet people think that young people don’t want sacrifice and Holiness. Young people not only want to know the Passion of Christ, but we also want to endure it.

Guide us into the reality that Christianity is our religion and not sports…because society tells us otherwise.

I challenge you to approach the youth – not just for Cursillo but for the health of your own soul.

Saint John Paul II said it best about the enemy of young people, “Young people are threatened by the evil use of advertising techniques that stimulate the natural inclination to avoid hard work by promising the immediate satisfaction of every desire.”

I hope you see it. The lies of our culture are twisted off of the very reality that young people yearn for more, yearn for happiness, and yearn for God. For He alone fulfills desire, but it’s not always immediate– rather, it’s intimate and patient.

There is no app created to help the youth:

1.
Avoid the authentic questions before bed

2.
Avoid the unique joy that comes from the possibility that God really does hear young people’s prayers

3.
Avoid the warmth that bursts out of a young boy’s heart when his dad asks him to play catch with the baseball after work

The only “app” that has consistently satisfied the human heart is found within the Apostolic Church.

The only “app” that has consistently guided the human mind is Absolute Truth.

Do not budge fellow Cursillistas with the youth. Do not meet us half way. Do not trick us into the truth. Do not force us into the truth.

Love us into the truth.

As St. Augustine said back in 400 AD (over 1600 years ago!), “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Some things never change…

Our youth are restless because our souls are often lied to from our culture.

If you know of any 18 -25 year old, you are now called. Make it a mission to get a young person to Cursillo.

Remember, the Virgin Mary was 14 or 15. And, Jesus was only 33 years old on the cross.

The truth flourishes within the youth.

The truth flourishes so much within the youth that an average knucklehead like me, who used to only dribble a basketball, now yearns for the Truth. So much so, that I’m dropping everything in order to give everything the youth needs, wants, and yearns for.

I want to say thank you for your beauty and joy. Thank you for saying “yes” to Cursillo.

I will end this letter with these words:

“He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.’” (Matthew 18:2-6)

Without a doubt, someday, I will be involved in Cursillos. Without a doubt, many of you have revealed the truth to me in such amazing ways. You’ve helped me discern, thank you!

I challenge you and your GR’s to dig deep and pull in a young person. Make a list of “potential young people” and get it done.

Do not be afraid – if we, as young people, are willing to walk miles and miles looking for Pokémon on our iPhones than I promise you we will be willing to go as far as it takes to find the face of Christ.